Distractions, Distractions

Why am I so easily distracted??  I have an ochem midterm tomorrow that I can't seem to focus on.  It just feels like there are so many better things to do.  Focus has never been my strongest suit.

Distraction #1:  Photography.  I took a walk around my neighborhood, snapping pictures as I went along.  A crow was following me for about fifteen minutes.  That was pretty odd.  But I did see some great stuff to take pictures of - I didn't photograph everything because I thought I might as well leave some for another time.

Distraction #2:  Yuri.  I just found out what this is.  Apparently yuri is lesbian anime/manga.  Who knew?  I saw the name of a cute-sounding anime:  Strawberry Panic.  I looked it up on Wikipedia and found out it's yuri.  I started watching it regardless because I just wanted to see how they handled this whole girl-girl relationship thing.  In my opinion, though, it seems like the girls who are the same age want to find a best friend and the younger girls want to find an older sister figure.  It doesn't really seem like romantic love to me.  But that's just what I think.  So after this, I've decided I'm not a yuri fan.

Distraction #3:  Internet.  There's so much to do!  Catch up on the news, Perez Hilton, FML, Overheard in New York, etc.  It isn't my fault.  Okay, fine, maybe it is.  Unfortunately Google Reader makes procrastination so much easier.

Distraction #4:  Manga.  I bought Fruits Basket volumes 21 and 22 (yay!!) at Borders and Barnes and Noble respectively (I had coupons for a certain percentage off on one item from both stores).  Volume 22 came with a "Shoujo Sampler," which basically meant it had a chapter from a few more Tokyopop Shoujo mangas.  I only read the included chapter for the first manga - Maid-sama!.  Oh...My...God... so addictive.  I immediately jumped online and started drinking it up.  So good.  I'm thinking of buying all these volumes too.  I also read the sample for Ng Life which seems hilarious.  The only good thing is I haven't started to read Fruits Basket Volume 12 yet because I know that would definitely distract me.  Then again, that might just be a case of delayed gratification.  In fact, it probably is.  P.S. Princess Ai is not as good as Tokyopop makes it out to be.  Sorry, Courtney Love.

Distraction #5:  Story.  All these amazing manga stories make my creative juices flow.  I want to write Chapter 9 so badly.  I also got an idea for another story that I'm excited to start writing.  Basically, including my current one, I have either three or four projects lined up - four if I decided to write the sequel to this one (which I'm leaning towards doing).

The Merits of a Graphic Novel

I never, ever really considered reading a graphic novel until...well...I started to read one.  This goes back to Fruits Basket again.  I watched the anime, but I was totally unsatisfied with the ending, so I decided to read the manga, even though I've never been into that (then again, to be fair, I've never been into anime until recently either).

[As an unrelated note, Fruits Basket is about a high school girl (Tohru Honda) who loses her mother and lives by herself in a tent in the woods until a boy in her class (Yuki Sohma) and his cousin (Shigure Sohma) find her and invite her to stay with them.  They are later joined by Kyo Sohma.  Tohru finds out that the Sohma family is under a curse and that some of the members are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac.]

I'm not sure if it's just Fruits Basket or all manga/graphic novels in general, but characters' thoughts and motivations are so clearly shown.  It makes the reader really understand the character and makes the character three-dimensional and believable.

I already knew how important it is for characters to be realistic, but this made me realize how something simple like a character's thoughts and memories can make them real.  It's easier in a graphic novel because no matter how many different characters there are, thoughts can be written in first person.  I guess they can be like that in a traditional novel too, but in a traditional novel, it seems kind of gimmick-y.  In any case, it's still possible to include the characters thoughts, memories, etc. in and thanks to Fruits Basket, I realized I definitely need to do that in this project I'm currently working on.

So that's what I've started to do now.  I'll have to go back and fix what I already did before, but that'll happen when the time comes :)

WWTD?

WWTD = What Would Tohru Do?

I know this is a strange topic, especially for my second post.  Tohru Honda is the main character of a Japanese manga/anime series called Fruits Basket.  She's quite possibly the sweetest person you could meet (that is, if she were actually a person...) She's mild-tempered, kind-hearted, always cheerful, with a smile and a helping hand to offer anyone and everyone.  She never loses her temper, but she's still strong - she can stand up to anyone who threats the people she cares about.

I wish I were more like Tohru, which is why I've adopted this slogan:  WWTD.  I want to be able to be kind to everyone and, like, Tohru, find the good qualities in other people, no matter how hard I have to look.  Because, honestly, all anyone really wants is to make the best of their time here on Earth and if I can make even one person's day a little brighter for just a moment, I think it's worth it.

My mom was talking about a girl I had once been really, really close friends with.  We grew apart, however, because her mother is an extremely jealous person who wants everything in her life to be the best and everything in the lives of those around her to be the worst (she's insecure and she wants to be worshipped, I guess, but I digress).  But because this woman is this way, she doesn't have any true, close friends.  My mom had been friends with her once but no longer really is - now they're basically just acquaintances.  Anyways, she said something about my friend that I didn't particularly like - if my mom was talking badly about her, didn't that make her no better than her former friend?  And this friend of mine - she did nothing.  She just has the bad luck of having a jealous mother.

So I've resolved not to talk badly about people anymore.  It's a habit that will need some settling into, but I think that as I started watching/reading Fruits Basket, I began to slip into it subconsciously.  

"Do unto others as you want them to do unto you," right?  That's exactly what I'm going to do.